Poker has given the world many real stars, from the Godfather of the game, Doyle Brunson, to young prodigies like Linus Loeliger. But there are players who, according to some, are literally comparable to Hollywood stars in their homeland. In the USA or Canada, for example, they can't even take a step without being surrounded by onlookers on all sides.
Perhaps the friendliest of them all, Daniel Negreanu, turned 50 on July 26th this year. We congratulate the hero of the day and have prepared for you a selection of facts for which hundreds of thousands love him.
Reason 1: Tournament Success and Net Profit
Negreanu is one of the most successful tournament players in history. At the time of recording this video, Daniel has almost $54 million in live tournament prize money. He made the seventh-place spot on the All Time Money list.
As for net profit, it is not so easy to estimate. Daniel openly talks about his successes and failures almost every year recently, being nearly the only one among high rollers to do so.
If you add up his reports, you can see that since 2013, he has been in the black by about $12-13 million. Before that, he won another seven and maybe even $9 million. His net income earned in his career is around $20 million. This is an amazing result, even taking into account all the factors that contributed to his success during his career.
After all, these are only tournament wins. How much did Negreanu's perennial contracts bring in, first with PokerStars and now with GGPoker? It's impossible to say, but it's easy to assume that it's much, much more.
He more than deserves these brand deals. He has been playing at a very high level for a quarter of a century now, for which he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame back in 2014. This happened as soon as he turned 40. There are simply no people younger than him in the Hall of Fame.
When high roller tournaments appeared, Daniel immediately began to play them all without distinction, including the One Drop for $1 million. In 2014, he took second place there and received $8.3 million. Two more of Negreanu's largest prizes came in recent times, both in $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl tournaments. These are elite tournaments with the strongest fields. In 2018, he took second place in such a tournament, and in 2022, he won it altogether, earning $3.3 million.
Reason 2: Always a Fan of Poker
Negreanu has been a poker fan since the 2000s and has moved poker forward. For example, he created and popularized his own strategy called Small Ball Poker (SBP). This is when you strive to play out many small pots with minimal risks. For those times, it was quite unorthodox, but a few years later, many of the strongest regulars began to play like this.
(Editor: If you can handle 240p video quality, here's a 14-year-old video of Daniel introducing Small Ball Poker.)
Also, Negreanu became one of the first to make small raises on the flop, which became a real revolution in those years. Only years later, it turned out that the solver, a computer that calculates ideal plays for any distributions, completely agrees with this idea of the game.
The secret to Negreanu's success is that he played with a lot of creativity and diligence. At that moment, he was head and shoulders above almost everyone from the old guard. Only Erik Seidel is still in the saddle besides him, and Phil Hellmuth. He is one of the most beloved of the top 10 leaders in poker.
Negreanu has played more prize money in offline tournaments than almost anyone else. He has already cashed in over 500 tournaments, which is more than, Phil Ivey and Brian Kenney combined.
It's also worth noting that on the Hendon Mob, which collects players' results, Negreanu ranks first in popularity. This means his profile is searched for more often on this site than any other player's.
Reason 3: Continuous Improvement – Even at 50 Years Old
In general, Negreanu is not afraid to develop and change his game. At 50, he is still studying the game, unlike almost all of his colleagues from the star workshop of the 2000s. Daniel didn't go on a well-deserved vacation when winning at poker became more difficult. A huge number of stars from those times earned their millions and got busy with something else, but not Daniel. He sincerely loves the game and can't imagine himself without it.
When poker presented him with a tough challenge, he accepted it. He agreed, or rather, offered himself to play a heads-up match with Doug Polk, who at that time was among the best players in the world in heads-up games.
Their relationship began back in 2015 when PokerStars started a campaign against regulars. Negreanu then publicly defended the new rakeback policy, for which he was furiously trolled by Polk. The Lodge Club owner even sat on a stream next to him in a T-shirt with a mocking inscription and later posted this quote on billboards in front of the entrance to the Rio Casino.
This confrontation ended with a loud duel in 2021 when the experienced online professional Polk smashed Negreanu. In 25,000 hands, he won more than $1.2 million from Daniel. But Negreanu only realized that poker had gone far ahead while he was resting on his laurels. He began to study theory diligently, changed coaches, sat in the software, and tirelessly studied GTO until he started playing on equal terms with the strongest young stars.
The result is one you already know: today, Daniel looks good in high roller tournaments, playing confidently even against young grinders, and continues his unique career.
Reason 4: Daniel's Blogging and Social Media Presence
Negreanu creates top content for YouTube and Twitch, as well as Twitter. He actively maintains and regularly participates in various disputes on X/Twitter, not afraid to speak out even on unpopular points of view. We certainly talk about his famous vlogs from the World Series, which he posts on YouTube every year.
Daniel records literally every step he takes, making videos of his adventures. In 2022, he immediately joined content production, taking it very seriously. There are some spectacular angles, splicing, and cutting from multiple locations, always with good sound.
At the same time, Daniel films everything: action at tables, random and non-random meetings with poker stars, numbers in hotels, trips in his Tesla around Vegas, and of course, his home and beloved wife Amanda.
A good half of the videos are dedicated to the analysis of played hands. There's been a lot of content in these blogs over the last 3 years. For example, in one episode, "The Craziest Day," Daniel told how an unknown man tried to blackmail him, extorting money and threatening to tell the whole world about a secret family which young Daniel had supposedly once abandoned in a small town in Arizona.
In general, the blogs are not boring at all. But the most important thing is that this content is the perfect way to experience the atmosphere of the World Series for those who have never been to Vegas itself. This is probably the best poker content on YouTube, and it's a format that no one will ever be able to repeat.
Reason 5: Negreanu Makes Games More Interesting to Watch
Negreanu considers himself an introvert, but at the same time, he definitely knows how to entertain like no one else. He continuously and charmingly chats and communicates with everyone at the tables, both during the hands and between them. There will always be a positive atmosphere.
So it's not surprising that he was always eagerly invited to all the best poker shows. You can find dozens of videos on the Internet where Negreanu literally reads minds, guesses the opponents' hands, and impresses the audience.
It's impossible to forget the dramatic Negreanu elimination on the fatal eleventh spot in the Main Event of the World Series 2015. It was such a tragedy because, in 2001, he made it to the same eleventh place in the Main Event. After 14 years, literally everyone was rooting for him. The poker world saw the sad moment together: on the river, Negreanu hit the floor and collapsed, and with him, the hope of hundreds of thousands of viewers from all over the planet.
This moment, too, is forever inscribed in the history of poker. (Here's the full clip of that moment)
Of course, Negreanu has his haters too, and they often dislike him for the same reasons that others love him: for his talkativeness and constant desire to be in the center of attention, and for the fact that he is ready to speak out on any occasion. But regardless of how you treat him, Negreanu has one exceptional and indisputable quality: everything he does, he does perfectly sincerely. He loves and hates, makes mistakes, and talks about his life as a public figure who doesn't hide anything about himself.
We extend our congratulations on your fiftieth anniversary, Daniel Negreanu. Thank you for everything you have done and will undoubtedly do again for our favorite game.
